Brits willing to accept festival rip-offs

Matt Allan

Anyone who has attended a music festival recently will be probably be familiar with handing over extortionate sums for a flavourless burger and a plastic pint of lukewarm, overly-fizzy booze.

But it turns out a surprising number of us are happy to accept these rip-offs as part of the festival-going experience.

According to new research a large number of festival-goers will overspend on food, drink and memorabilia at big events without grumbling.

The survey of 10,000 people, carried out on behalf of Promotional vehicle supplier The Events Structure, looked at people’s spending habits at festivals and other big events.

It found food was the most popular expense, with 39 per cent of people asked saying they’d happily overspend on sating their hunger.

Almost a third (30 per cent) said of those surveyed they were happy to suck up the inflated price of alcohol at festivals. Yet only 25 per cent thought it was acceptable to pay over the odds for water and soft drinks.

More than half (57 per cent) of people surveyed said their spending was guided by value for money but 13 per cent admitted to being influenced by peer pressure and more than a quarter (26 per cent) said they were a sucker for unique event-specific merchandise.

Fewer people were willing to pay more for better access, with only 12 per cent saying they’d spend money on additional passes and tickets, although 20 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds said they would, compared with just 2 per cent of 55 to 64-year-olds.

Research showed that last year the average amount people spend on attending festival and events jumped 8.5 per cent.

Separate figures from Association of Independent Festivals showed that the average person now spends more than £450 per year on gigs and festivals.